Bangalore is one of the most traveled destinations in southern India. Known as the garden city of India, Bangalore has many stories and legends related to it.
Bangalore was founded by Kempe Gowda I, a chieftain of Vijayanagar in 1537. The four limits of this town were decided by the extent to which four carts could be pulled by their bullocks. This town he named after a village which was called Bengaluru, a colloquialism of "Benda Kalu" which means "boiled beans" in Kannada language. Local folklore has it that a 10th century ruler, Veera Ballala lost his way in the forest while on a hunt. He arrived at the cottage of an old woman who offered him her simple meal of boiled beans. Since then it was called "Benda Kalu Uru". The anglicized version naturally is Bangalore.
Bangalore gained prominence in the 18th century, when it became an important fort city, under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore. This area witnessed the struggle between Tipu Sultan and the British. The British defeated Tipu Sultan and took over Bangalore city. In 1831, the British made it the regional administrative city and established a big cantonment here.
However the present look of the garden city was given to it in the 16th century. And today it is one of the highly developed cities of southern India and the capital of the state of Karnataka. Bangalore is also the seventh largest city in India and because of the initiative it took in the wake of the Information Technology revolution in the country, Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India.
